By Bob Brainerd Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Oct 19, 2006 at 5:29 AM
When we embarked on interviewing the six female sports reporters stationed here in Milwaukee, we knew the stories they would share about their careers would be the most intriguing.

Lori Nickel and Bobbi Roquemore from the newspaper, Jessie Garcia, Stephanie Sutton and Jen Lada from television, and Kyndra de St. Aubin from radio all have experienced bumps in the road during their career paths.  But, they also compile unique tales that only women in the world of sports can experience.

Time for show and tell.  All six were eager to recall moments that made them smile, shake their heads or take a deep breath.  We begin with that welcome to the world of sports reporting / broadcasting moment that made them realize -- I have arrived.

Garcia: "Probably my first assignment as an intern at WISC (Madison). I had to drive to Wausau for the state baseball tournament. The game got over late and I was hauling you-know-what back to Madison. I walked in the door at about 10:10 and was told I had to write and edit the highlights by 10:20. My heart was beating out of my chest but somehow it got on the air. I knew then the deadline pressure that comes with live TV and with sports specifically."

Sutton:  "I actually upset (Raiders coach) Jon Gruden in Oakland.  I got a lead from a producer saying 'We've heard he signed to go to Notre Dame.'  I ask the tough question, and he didn't blow up in front of me, but as soon as they shut the door, I guess he went nuts ... he went ballistic!  I remember going to the car with the photog, and the PR guy running after me asking "What was that all about?"  They did not expect that from me. Leading up to that, all day, I knew I had to ask the question and I was nervous.  But I was like, well, I gotta do it, and I did it, and I pissed him off."

Roquemore: "At Marquette, I was the sports editor of the Marquette Tribune, the college paper. So a gentleman calls up and asks to speak to the sports editor, and he was transferred to me. He asks again to speak to the sports editor. I tell him I AM the sports editor. He refused to talk to me, insisting to speak to the former sports editor about whatever he had to say."

de St. Aubin: "I was in a Bucks press conference and general manager Larry Harris called me out in front of everybody for "listening to music" with my headset during the press conference. I was not "listening to music," I was listening to the press conference to make sure the audio I was recording sounded OK. Since then, he always asks me if I have any questions for him, rather than the other way around."

Mistakes are not singular to the female portion of sports reporters and broadcasters.  An error is charged in baseball, a foul in basketball, and a penalty in football.  Yes, even the athletes they cover mess up.  That’s why it’s refreshing for these six women to laugh it off and turn the other cheek.

Sutton: "I worked in Jackson, Mississippi where we have the Astros’ Double-A team.  I went to the Bay Area, and one of my first gigs was covering the Oakland A’s and I remember going into where (manager) Art Howe was, and I said "Hey coach!" He didn't say anything.  Later, someone taps me on the shoulder and says "It’s manager."  I was like, ‘Oh, I had no idea, because in AA, you say coach all the time.’"

de St. Aubin: "I once asked Michael Redd why they can't play a full 60 minutes because they were falling apart in the fourth quarter every game. Basketball (in the NBA) is only 48 minutes. It was right in the middle of Packers’ season and I got my numbers mixed up. He looked at me like I was crazy, but answered the question. He has given me the nickname "60 Minutes" and calls me that most times I see him."

The working moms could each write a book about their personal experiences trying to beat a deadline while juggling childcare duties.  Whether it’s with child or surrounded by them, these women somehow make a sport out of raising children while on the job.  

Nickel: "I'm covering the first-ever opening day at Miller Park and I am eight-plus months pregnant. Because I have seen too many TV shows where some woman's water breaks at the mall, in the cab, wherever, I had gotten into the habit of carrying extra clothes with me on assignment. So security was extremely tight that day because President Bush was throwing out the first pitch. I go through security and FBI people rifle through my work bag, past the usual media guides, tape recorders, laptop computer and the like. I'm dying, thinking, 'Don't go in that closed part of the bag.' Of course, the security guy does. The guy stops and pauses when he pulls out my huge pair of sweatpants and maternity underwear, looks at me, looks down again, at me again, and we're both so embarrassed we didn't say anything. The buzz from the long line of reporters behind me stopped, too. Too many single guys, apparently, never knew they made maternity underwear."

Garcia: "Literally (I was) changing a diaper while reading the Packers media guide in preparation for sideline reporting. Also, I had to bring infant Jake to a shoot in Green Bay because my sitter fell through at the last moment. I had to change his diaper in the Packers tunnel, nurse him and wait for him to fall asleep before I could shoot my lines."  

Nickel: "There were only two people who rubbed my belly when I was pregnant with kid number one. My husband, and (former Brewers slugger) Richie Sexson, who I'd never met before. I'm not sure what made him do that.  I could go on and on ... on draft day, minutes before they picked Aaron Rodgers, my husband called to tell me he dropped the baby down a flight of stairs. I left the Lambeau Field press room and was cussing at him like a sailor... I was scared and mad and the four-letter words were flying.  I turned around, still on my cell phone, to see the Packers giving a Lambeau Field tour to about 30 fans, all staring at me.  My son ended up being OK.  I have written stories with a kid eating crackers on my lap and Blue's Clues on the TV. Once, Bob Huggins stopped talking in the middle of a conference call with Conference USA coaches because my little one picked up another phone in the house and started eating it. I was once on a small conference call with Mike Sherman, when my son, then potty training, came bounding out of the living room shouting, "Poopie, poopie, POOPIE" down the hall, past me and to the bathroom, as I am fumbling for a mute button."

Males who still think the good ol’ boys network is alive and well haven't run into this group.  Jen Lada’s surreal tale seems like it was peeled right off the pages of a Ron Burgundy’s "Anchorman" script.

Lada: "I was interviewing for a sports position in a pretty decent sized market, and after joining the sports director for what I thought was another interview / dinner, he asked if I wanted to go skinny dipping with him! And then, after I politely, and forcefully, declined, he proceeded to call me repeatedly to see if I had changed my mind. Needless to say, I never ended up working there and thank goodness. At the time, I was so disappointed, but things ended up working out ... I didn't have to move far from Milwaukee so I re-met my husband here. And I've been able to stay close to my family while climbing the ladder. It all happens for a reason. But, it was still weird."

Garcia: "I remember one night after a show at WISC when a male viewer called and told me he would never watch Channel 3 again because "Chicks don't know anything about sports." I bit my tongue and simply said 'I hope you change your mind some day.'"

Roquemore: "It makes no difference in how I do my job, but it does make a difference in the atmosphere in which you do your job in. It can be intimidating, still, when you walk in a press room and just a handful of people look or talk like you, let alone talk to you. It is a lonely existence. But you realize that just as the last generation broke the barriers for us, you have to continue to do the same, and press on in spite of how your peers perceive you. I know that I carried above a 3.0 at Marquette, worked two, sometimes three jobs, had two college internships, was the sports editor of my college paper and did everything necessary to line myself up to be in a nice position in this industry upon graduation and beyond. And, of course, I'm a great storyteller, courtesy of my Mommy! Yet when I get a job or a promotion, some people snipe that it’s because I'm a black female, and I haven't earned my way nor did anything spectacular and, what, they have? How unfortunate and short-sighted, but it’s out there. But I know, God knows and my employer knows how informative, entertaining and inspirational I am as a journalist."  

The chamber of horrors seems to have been the locker room.  While it appears most immature athletes have finally grown up and realized women are there to do a job, it didn't happen without most women having to pay their dues and put up with all the nonsense hurled in their direction.

Nickel: "Covering Bobby Knight as a female had some challenges. I was there when he threw Beth Harris out and forever closed the locker room to all reporters, so as not to discriminate against just the women. I remember getting glares from other male reporters when the closed locker room notice came out before the next game, as if it was my fault now they had virtually no access."

Lada: "There was a coach I dealt with regularly in my old market who really went out of his way to make me feel uncomfortable. He’d ask me out on dates, compliment my outfits and call me randomly under the guise of getting an "exclusive feature." The best way to handle that guy was to never even acknowledge it. I got the impression he just wanted to get to me, get a rise out of me, and the more I didn't break down or react, the more frustrated he became."

Nickel: "I was a 22-year-old intern with the Journal when Chuck Salituro had me cover Packers games and stuff during the week. During "Bear Week" he sent me to Lake Forest to get some stuff out of Halas Hall. Man, I was clueless, but I managed to get a story and notes out of the press conferences they had at the time. So, being ambitious, I headed to the locker room for more quotes. Well, I walk in and Kevin Butler starts screaming, "Oh, oh, look out, a woman's coming! Cover your balls!" and more obscene stuff that's unprintable. Again, there are 50 reporters here and I don't know a face among the media, the PR people or the players. Butler, kept at me, barking obscenities and foul stuff that was graphic, and you know not one reporter came to my aid? It was a hostile time with the Lisa Olson thing, women weren't welcome. I ran out of there as I heard (quarterback) Jim Harbaugh go, 'Are you done yet? Leave her alone.' But it was too late. I was out of there and scarred to this day.  But, I have never forgotten that you better have your guard up and you better watch your back -- you can't count on anyone but yourself in there."

But there have been the inspirational moments -- times when all the headaches and heartaches are absent, and the job seems worth all the bother and stress.  Times when being a woman in the media throng of sports wasn't such a bad thing.

Roquemore: "I lived with my great-grandparents, so my little "job" was to get the mail everyday. For Christmas, my Mommie bought my great-grandfather a subscription to Sports Illustrated in 1984. So from the age of 8, I started reading the magazine, and my grandfather told me about how sports writers actually went to the games and that was their job. I wrote essays on being a journalist in elementary school, immersed myself in every sports book around and did all the "career day" things to learn about the industry. So by the time I reached high school and college, I was equipped to pursue my dream of being a sports journalist."

Garcia: "I do recall one instance in which being a woman helped. This was back when B.J. Surhoff was playing for the Brewers. I wanted to do a story on his son, who had autism. He was reluctant. Then one day his wife called me and said "B.J. will do the story and I have to tell you, he never would have done this with a male reporter. He feels more comfortable talking about this with you because you're a woman."

Let us end these anecdotes with the Journal Sentinels’ Lori Nickel.  Guys -- raise your hand if you wish you had this same conversation with your significant other, and were delighted you lost.

Nickel: "My husband called me at a game a few weeks ago and said he canceled DirecTV to save $15 a month, and I freaked out!  "No NFL Network? Are you insane?: He says, 'You watch that?' I told him he was one of maybe a dozen men who could say, 'Yeah, my wife covers the NFL to pay our mortgage. Satellite stays.'"
Bob Brainerd Special to OnMilwaukee.com
Born and raised in Milwaukee, what better outlet for Bob to unleash his rambling bits of trivial information than right here with OnMilwaukee.com?

Bob currently does play-by-play at Time Warner Cable Sports 32, calling Wisconsin Timber Rattlers games in Appleton as well as the area high school football and basketball scene. During an earlier association with FS Wisconsin, his list of teams and duties have included the Packers, Bucks, Brewers and the WIAA State Championships.

During his life before cable, Bob spent seven seasons as a reporter and producer of "Preps Plus: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel High School Sports Show."

And the joke is, Bob has a golf shirt from all four Milwaukee television stations. Sad, but true: Bob has had sports and news anchor/reporter/producer stints at WTMJ, WISN, WDJT and WITI.

His first duty out of college (UW-Oshkosh) was radio and TV work in Eau Claire. Bob spent nearly a decade at WEAU-TV as a sports director and reporter.

You may have heard Bob's pipes around town as well. He has done play-by-play for the Milwaukee Mustangs, Milwaukee Iron, and UW-Milwaukee men's and women's basketball. Bob was the public address announcer for five seasons for both the Marquette men and women's basketball squads. This season, you can catch the starting lineups of the UW-Milwaukee Panther men's games with Bob behind the mic.

A Brookfield Central graduate, Bob's love and passion for sports began at an early age, when paper football leagues, and Wiffle Ball All Star Games were all the rage in the neighborhood.